Cardiac Rehabilitation in the Quad Cities

As the trusted provider of cardiac rehabilitation in the Quad Cities, Trinity provides a customized program tailored to your unique recovery needs and goals.

What is cardiac rehabilitation?

Cardiac rehabilitation is a physician-supervised program for people who have heart disease. Cardiac rehabilitation can often improve exercise capacity, reduce symptoms and create a sense of well-being for patients. A physician order is necessary to begin the program.

What conditions may benefit from cardiac rehabilitation?

Conditions or cardiac procedures that may necessitate cardiac rehabilitation may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Congestive heart failure

Chest Pain

Heat Attack

Open heart surgery

Heart transplantation

Balloon procedure with or without stents

Irregular Heart Rhythm

Valve Repair or Replacement

Phases of Cardiac Rehabilitation

Inpatient Cardiac Rehab (Phase 1)

Occurs during the hospital stay and includes education, low-level exercise and preparation for discharge.

Outpatient Cardiac Rehab (Phase 2)

Phase 2 cardiac rehabilitation ideally begins shortly after hospital discharge. You can expect this phase to last up to twelve weeks. Phase 2 includes extensive, individualized education, supervised and monitored exercise and risk factor / lifestyle counseling. You will meet three times a week for 75 minutes and focus primarily on medically-supervised exercise conditioning and education.

During each session, your blood pressure and EKG are monitored during exercise. Your exercise regimen will include work on a treadmills, exercise bikes, arm rower or stepper machine. All equipment settings and exercises are based on your health status and ability to withstand exercise.

Other essential elements of the cardiac rehab program include patient education, classes from nurses, dietitians and exercise specialists. Education will help you better understand your heart condition and learn ways to reduce the risk of future problems. Patients also learn how to cope with the stress of adjusting to a new lifestyle and to deal with fears about the future from behavioral health experts.

The Cardiac Rehabilitation Team

Cardiac rehabilitation programs can be conducted while a person is a hospital inpatient or on an outpatient basis. Many skilled professionals are part of the cardiac rehabilitation team, including any/all of the following:

Cardiologist/cardiovascular surgeon

Physiatrist

Primary care physician

Rehabilitation nurse

Dietitian

Physical therapist

Psychologist

Chaplain

Exercise Specialist

Cardiac Rehab, Meeting Your Needs

A cardiac rehabilitation program is designed to meet the needs of the individual patient, depending upon the specific heart problem or disease, and should be supervised by a cardiac physician and a team of cardiac professionals.

The goal of cardiac rehabilitation is to help patients reverse their symptoms and maximize cardiac function. Cardiac rehabilitation includes, but is not limited to, the following activities:

Establishing a progressive exercise program to strengthen your heart muscles.

Providing educational classes to help adjust to or change the patient's lifestyle and habits, such as smoking cessation and nutrition classes.